Carissa Christensen is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of BryceTech companies in the US and the UK. She previously co-founded defense company The Tauri Group, acquired by LMI in 2019, and quantum computing software company QxBranch, acquired by Rigetti Computing in 2019. She is an active tech investor who serves on several early-stage boards.
Ms. Christensen is an internationally recognized expert on R&D processes, technology forecasting, and the space industry. She sits on the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Space and the Advisory Council of the Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy. She previously served on the National Research Council Space Technology Industry-Government-University Roundtable, which advises NASA, and the Space Committee of the Defense Innovation Board. She is a Senior Advisor to the annual US Space Force Schriever Wargame.
Ms. Christensen guest lectures at universities internationally, including Harvard Business School, the Wharton School, the Eisenhower School, and the Australian Defence Force Academy at UNSW. She testified before Congress and Parliament committees on space markets. She publishes extensively, is often cited by major media outlets, and has appeared in space documentaries by The Financial Times and Bloomberg.
Ms. Christensen is a graduate of Harvard University’s Kennedy School, where she specialized in science and technology policy. She attended the London School of Economics and was a Douglass Scholar at Rutgers University. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.